Carton printer



March 22, 1960 R. A. PANNIER CARTON PRINTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug.5, 1957 #man mwU u Wm A. u. H, a? I. @RT F March 22, 1960 R. A. PANNIER2,929,318

CARTON PRINTER Filed Aug. 5, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEIN TOR. RALPH A.PAuu/se BY H/s Arr-caves# March 22, 1960 R. AfpANNll-:R

CARTON PRINTER 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 5, 1957 INVENToR. @ALPHAPA/.w/Ee BY H/.s A rra/euev CARTGN PRINTER Ralph A. Pannier, McCandlessTownship, Allegheny County, Pa., assgnor to The Pannier Corporation,Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 5,1957, Serial No. 676,163

1 Claim. (Cl. 101-231) |This invention relates generally to printers formarking collapsed cartons and more particularly to a printer that marksone or both sides of a collapsed carton passing under revolving dies.

A manufacturer of products that are stuffed in cartons has the difficultproblem of finding space for the storage of collapsed cartons that areprinted and ready for use. Invariably there are many different productsto be shipped and they may take the same or different sizes of cartonsfor shipping the different brands they manufacture or broker. lt is notadvisable to keep collapsed printed cartons in storage too long or theyage and become spoiled. The solution to this problem is to maintain alimited number of different sizes of unmarked or unprinted collapsedcartons in storage and print them as the orders are drawn. This requiresa different mode and apparatus to print these unmarked and foldedcartons. The cartons taken from storage then represent the order of newcartons to replenish the stock and the period to deliver these newlyordered cartons determines the ultimate quantity required for storage,with a factor of safety. The carton printer of this invention permitsthe manufacturer or broker to always have freshly printed cartons of theselected size and the storage supply is thus kept to a minimum.

The principal object of this invention is a printing device to print oneor both sides of a collapsed carton and having a revolvable die that maybe changed readily for the printing of cartons of different sizes andfor different products.

Another object is the provision of a printing device having a quickdrying ink that wets the die only when it is about to transfer the sameonto the object to be printed but the inking device is at all timesready to ink the die.

Other objects and advantages appear hereinafter in the followingdescription and claim.

The accompanying drawings show for the purpose of exemplication withoutlimiting the invention and claim thereto certain practical embodimentsillustrating the principles of this invention wherein:

-Fig. 1 is a view in vertical section of the printing device.

Fig. 2 is an end view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the roller drives;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic View of the control circuit.

Referring to the drawings the housing is provided with the bottom 1 madeup of the spaced cross channel member 2 and the plate 3 secured to andspanning the space between the cross channels. The vertical side plates4 and 5 complete the housing. The upper end of the side plates of thehousing are connected by the box conveyor 7 at the feeding end and bythe rod 8 above the tray or table 10 at the discharge end.

Each side plate has tive windows which are aligned with each other andsupport a bearing to receive the ends of ve shafts namely the upper andlower die drum shafts 11 and 12, their respective backup roller shafts13 and 14 and the ink transfer roller shaft 15 for the lower-die drum16.

The die drum 17 mounted on the shaft 11 has its bearings at both ends,and is adjustable vertically by the screws 18 to adjust this die rollrelative to its backup roll 19. The backup roller 20 of the lower diedrum 16 has its shaft 14 mounted in bearings at both ends that areadjustable vertically by the screws 21. Angle irons 22 extend over theslots in the sides 4 and 5 to receive the adjusting screws 1S and 21.

The upper and lower die drums and their respective backup rolls providethe two printing stations or throats 23 and 24 which are at the sameelevation and fix the height of the box feeding conveyor andthedischarge tray or table 10 at opposite4 ends of the printing device.v

Angle irons 25 and 26 are secured to the sides 4 and 5 to support theink wells 27 and 28 for the lower and upper die drums respectively. Eachink well is in an enclosure 30 slidable on its angle iron support andhaving journaled therein the rubber ink pickup roller 31 and the knurledtransfer rolls 32 in lineal contact engagement. Screws 33 are providedon each ink well to adjust the pressure between its respective rubberink pickup roll 31 on its knurled transfer roll 32. These transfer rollsare lightly knurled by eighty lines per inch in thecross patterncharacteristic of all knurled rolls. The adjusting screws are effectiveon the shaft housings of the bearing carrying the ink `pickup rolls 31.By maintaining the proper pressure between the ink pickup roll and itsknurled transfer roll, the proper amount of ink for one printing istransferred. The transfer roll'will take only that amount of inkrequired for one printing and no more and the ink is picked up andenters the bottom of the contact between the pickup and transfer roll.Thus in Fig. l the ink pickup roll is both instances is rotatedcounter-clockwise as indicated.

The frictional engagement between the transfer and ink pickup rolls issufcient to squeeze out the excess ink and let it flow back to its wellas well as to drive the latter roll from the former. Thus a pulley 34 isprovided on each shaft of the ink transfer roll 32 and they are bothengaged by the same chain drive 35 which may be traced to pass the idlerpulley 36 and the drive sprocket 37 on the shaft 38. The opposite end ofshaft 38 is provided with the gear 40 which engages the gear '41 that isin turn mounted on the shaft 42 having also the sprocket 43 driven bythe chain 44 from the drive sprocket 45 on the motor shaft 46 of theelectric motor 47. Thus the inking rollers including the pickup rolls 31and the knurled rolls 32 are rotated all the time that the motor 47 isenergized and are constantly supplied with ink.

The motor shaft 46 is connected to one side ofthe combination clutch andbrake structure 48 such as show n in Patent No. 2,629,322, the output ofwhich is represented by the driven section 50 which has the brakeapplied immediately thereto when the clutch is opened to uncouple theshaft 46 from the driven section 50.

The output of the clutch driven section 50is mounted on the shaft 5,1which carries the gear 52 Athat-meshes with the gear 53 on the shaft 54to drive the feeder.

A sprocket 55 on the end of the shaft 51 has the chain 56 that passesover the idler sprocket 57 and engages over -the inside of the sprocket58 to drive the lower die 'drive 16 on shaft 12 and then on to thesprocket 60 on the backup roll 24) on the shaft 14, then continues overthe sprocket 61 on the shaft 11 to drive the upper die drive 17, andthence down over the inside of the sprocket 62 which drives the backuproll 19 on the shaft 13 and then passes around the inside of the idlerroll 63 and back to the sprocket 55.

The sprocket 64 on the end of shaft 54 has the chain Patentecl- Mar. 22,

, 3 (i5-passing around the 'sprocket 66 on the shaft 67 that drives thechain 68 having two spaced feed abutments or dogs 70 that travel betweenthe shafts 67 and 71 and pass under the stock bin on adjustable stockguides 72, pick up a folded carton and feed it into the printing throat23 between die drum 17 and its backup roll i9 which prints and Vfurtherfeeds-this folded carton stock to the printing vthroat 24 between thedie drum 16 and its backup roll 20. Thus bot-h sides of the foldedcarton are being printed simultaneously.

VThe shafts 67 and 71 are journaled the table '73 which is fastened toside plates 4 and 5 and is supported by the outward-ly extending braces74. The tabletop 75 is a fiat plate with a slot down the center topermit the abutment or dog 70 to 'pass from one end to the other. '-Irheshaft 67 is made lower so that the -dog 7G drops from the 'plane 'of thecarton.

Each of the 'respective die drums 16 and 17 have dies 76 and 77 'mountedthereon. These are thick rubber di'es and come into surface engagementwith the constantly rotating respective transfer roll 78 on the shaft 15and the transfer roll 32 only when the die drums are rotated and that iswhen the clutch is energized to drive the output 50 and the shaft 51.Once the die drums are started by the pushbutton 80 shown in Fig. 4 themicro switch 81, which is held open by the cam S2 on thedie drum 17 atthe normal position of rest of the die drum as shown in Fig. 1, isimmediately relieved and closes to maintain the operating circuit closedfor one complete .revolution of the drum and until the cam 82 againopens the switch 81. Thus single folded cartons may be inserted tooperate the die drums.

As each die 76 and 77 engages its respective ink transfer roll, picks upthe ink on the surface of the letters on the die and travels throughapproximately eighty-tive degrees before engaging the folded carton.When the 'carton is in the printing throat the die and the backup rollboth cooperate to drive it through, the die trans- Vferring its inkedimpression onto the carton which takes the ink oif the printing surfaceof the die leaving it dry. The ink being a fast drying kind is drybefore the next consecutive carton can be fed from the machine. Due tothis vfast drying ink the die must be wet only a very short time beforeit prints the carton 'and one inking is good for only one printing.

A second micro switch 83 is placed on the discharge tray or table 10.This switch is normally closed but if a carton just having been printedis resting on this switch it is kept open which would open the clutchcircuit when the micro switch-81 was again opened by the cam 82 as theseswitches are in l-rnultiple This circuit is designed to require that theprinted carton be removed from the tray before the next carton can enteras it it v undesirable to have the second carton push the first cartonolf the t-ray or table.

Since the feed chain 68 and the feed abutment or dog 70 are driven'fromthe same clutch 48 the control of the drum also controls the feed. Theeighty-five degrees of rotation by the die drums is also important inthe timing of the 'positioning of the carton. While the drum' istraveling through this are the carton is being fed from the bottom ofthe pile of folded cartons in the guide 72.

As 'previously mentioned the top roll in ea'ch printing throat is'vadjustable, the die drum 17 for the throat '23 and the backup rol-l 20for the throat 24. Some adjustment is provided for the rubber transferroll 78 relative to the die drum 16 so that the proper pressure will beprovided therebetween to transfer the ink `to the die.

Both ink wells are slidable on their support brackets 25 and 26 toadjust the pressure between the transfer rolls 32 and 78 and the die 76in one case and between the transfer roll 312 and the die 77 on the drum17 in the other case. This pressure adjustment is made by the screws 87and the ink wells are locked by the screws 3S.

The pressure between'the ink pickup rolls 31 and their respectivetransfer rolls 32 is by the screws 33 which pressure determines theamount of ink permitted to be transferred to the knurled transfer rolls32. Wells are rotating but the die drums are not, the ink is carriedaround the transfer roll in readiness.

The switch starts the motor 47 and supplies energy to the stop startswitch 86 'for the clutch and brake mechanism which is furthercontrolled by the two micro switches. If there is nothing on the tray ortable 10 then the start switch 86 will release the brake and throw inthe clutch to start the drums. The drums will then continue to run aslong as a printed carton is not left on the table 10 to maintain theswitch 83 open.

l claim:

A printing device comprising a frame, a horizontally disposed articlefeeder supported by said frame, two rotary die carrying printing drumseach with a drive sprocket mounted on said frame with one disposed aboveand the other disposed below a plane followed by the articles Afed bysaid feeder to print on opposite sides of an article when passing saiddrums, a printing die on each drum and covering a portion of the surfaceof the drum, a rotary backup roll with a drive sprocket carried by saidframe for each dru-rn to form with each respective drum a feeding andprinting -throat through which each article passes when being printed,an inkingmember for 'the die on each drum including an ink supply with apickup roll and a transfer roll in engagement with each other, thesurface of the transfer roll being disposed in the path to engage itsrespective die just prior to the time that the die engages the articleto -be printed, a sprocket on each transferroll, a motor, a drive fromsaid motor to said transfer roll sprockets to maintain them in constantrotation while said motor is energized, electrically actuatedclutch-brake mechanism driven by said motor, a chain drive connectingthe output of said clutchbrake mechanism with said feeder to operate thesame in feeding articles in succession to the first of said printingthroats, a second chain drive connecting the output of said clutch-brakemechanism with the sprockets of said drums and backup rolls to rotatethe same through a cycle with said feeder, an operating circuit for saidclutchbrake mechanism to initiate and simultaneously actuate said feederand printing drums while said transfer rolls continue to be -drivendirectly by said motor, a tray at the end of the printing throat tosupport the printed article ejected therefrom, and switch means carriedby said tray to be engaged by a printed article on said tray andconnected to open-said operating circuit to prevent the operation of theprinting drum unt-i1 the printed article has been removed from saidtray.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 542,358Carter `uly 9, 1895 '1,355,488 McKenney Oct. 12, 1920 1,924,693 Lyman etal. Aug. 29, 1933 `2,645,174 Levin July 14, 1953 2,737,109 Hertsch Mar.6, 1956 2,767,651 Willsea Oct. 23, 1956 If the ink

